If one of the big energy drink companies desires its product to be endorsed by a world-renowned athlete, a Ronaldo or a Roger, they can generally rely on the enticing powers of a jumbo cheque. Tim Lawson and his family – the team behind Science in Sport, a manufacturer of energy supplements that has grown to become a major player from a bedroom in Blackburn – have had to do things differently: trust word to spread, and let the athletes come to them.

It was a novel way to run a business in the money-led world of modern sport, but it is starting to pay. Usain Bolt ordered cases of the company's gels to be sent to Beijing in 2008; Sir Ranulph Fiennes telephoned the office ahead of a trip up Everest; and now, with cyclists Alberto Contador and Sir Chris Hoy fully outed as customers, Science in Sport could soon threaten the big players, the Lucozades and Gatorades, on the global stage.

The business started at the family kitchen table in the early 1990s, when Tim Lawson cracked open an economy-sized tub of an additive called maltodextrine, intending to divvy it up and sell it to his cycling pals. A sports science graduate, he was "tired of giving lectures on the back of serviettes" about what supplements his peers should take, and decided to sell them something direct. Enlisting the support of brother Simon, also a sports scientist, mum Jean, a lab technician, and businessman father John, the family started making powders and gels; through clever manipulation of glucose units, they were able to craft an "isotonic energy gel" that delivered lots of energy in a small mouthful, one which, unlike similar products on the market, didn't need to be consumed with lots of water. "We thought it was a big ask for athletes to have to see to their hydration at the same time as see to their energy levels," says Tim Lawson. "What if you were running a marathon but weren't anywhere near a water station?"

Helped by early association with Chris Boardman – "back when he was a more likely contender for the Tour of Lancashire than the Tour de France" – SiS became a cult supplier in the cycling world, and soon expanded into other sports. The Lawsons didn't always know who was using their stuff until, say, a bottle of their energy drink showed up in the hands of a trophy-wielding sportsman (BJ Mather, of the Challenge Cup-winning Wigan Warriors, in 1994) or was hurled on to a football pitch during an international match (England's World Cup qualifier against Greece in 2002). Quietly, unofficially, the Lawsons were fuelling superstars. "The guys in the factory couldn't believe where orders were being shipped to. Olympic villages, Premier League team hotels…"

It has meant some frustration over the years ("You can help make an athlete great and contribute to that, and they're offered big money to endorse a competitor") but Science in Sport is starting to get high-profile credit. "Athletes want the real deal now," says Lawson. And they also know where to look for it.